A Grammar of Tamashek (Tuareg of Mali)

7.3 Verb classes and irregular verbs 383

a-mud or a-mudd (<Arabic), t-ümom-t, t-a-tub-t, azukk, azumm, and
t-a-zune. ι
Others like 'be scratched' from the -vCCuC- type are (PerfP) -ajruy-
'belch' (dialectally -sjruk-), (K-d) -aeggum- 'be in love with', -annuv- 'be
interrupted before finishing', -asruj- 'sneeze', -azzur- 'be winnowed', and
-aksud- 'be afraid'. For dialects other than T-ka and A-grm, replace initial a by
ae. The attested imperfectives are based on -uCCaC- rather than the -aCCuC-
seen in the perfective (for 'be afraid' -uksad- varies with -Iksad-). The
common VblN patterns are also often based on -üCCaC-, and in any event are
usually feminine (t-üjray-t or t-ajray-t, t-üsrak-k or t-üsrek-k, t-azzafe,
t-a-ksada).

The stems with i instead of u are exemplified in (381). The only structural
difference is that the -aCiC- stem is not recorded as a variant in the
imperfectives or VblN's, so the break between perfective and imperfective is
sharper here. As usual, dialects other than T-ka and A-grm have initial as
instead of a in the perfective.

(381) Perfective -v(C)CiC-, Imperfective -l(C)CaC-

' wrestle'

-vzil-

'feel pain'

-vsnin-

a. perfective system

PerfP -azil-ι

Resit -a^ll-

PerfN -azil-ι

b. short imperfective system

Shlmpf -"izal-

Imprt Izal

c. long imperfective system

LoImpfP -t-lzal-

LoImpfN -t-lzal-

Prohib -t-lzal-

-ssnin-

-asnln-

-asnin-

-lsnan-

Isnan

-t-lsnan-

-t-lsnan-

-t-lsnan-

d. nominalization

VblN t-izal-t t:isnan-t

Others of the -vCiC- type (like 'wrestle') are, in the PerfP, -sdin- 'be
counted', -aril- 'believe' (dialectally also -serel- with e), and -awid-
'increase'. The VblN's are of the t-iCaC-t type, except for t-arel-t 'belief.
Others of the -vCCiC- type (like 'feel pain') are -arwis- 'yelp', -astik- 'be
empty', (K-d) -aesriw- 'be happy', -aswid- 'be duped', -adriw- fidraw) 'be a
co-wife', -arrid- Grrad) varying dialectally with -arid- (irad) '(child) be very